Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than as a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to client devices (e.g., computers, smart phones, etc.) as a utility over a network, such as the Internet. Cloud computing environments provide computation, software, data access, and/or storage services that do not require end-user knowledge of a physical location and configuration of a system that delivers the services.
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunication systems and storage systems. A data center generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression, etc.), and/or security devices. In one example, a data center may share information with a cloud computing environment that may be utilized by client devices.
In a multi-cloud computing environment, the data center device or client device may utilize a variety of cloud resources and/or services provided by different cloud computing environments. Ideally, the data center device/client device attempts to use one-hundred percent of the cloud resources/services since the data center device/client device typically pays for the cloud resources/services for a particular time period. However, when the cloud resources/services are unused and/or underutilized by the data center device/client device, the data center device/client device still incurs costs for the unused and/or underutilized cloud resources/services.